Bug#1031376: tzdata 2022g-3 removed /etc/timezone without a proper transition, breaking multiple packages

[Sebastian Ramacher]

On 2023-02-16 20:22:15 +0000, Benjamin Drung wrote:
> On Thu, 2023-02-16 at 13:59 +0100, Michael Biebl wrote:
> > [Looping Benjamin in]
> > 
> > Hi everyone,
> > 
> > the removal of /etc/timezone was discussed in the context of a systemd 
> > upload targeting experimental, where I suggested this should be handled 
> > by the tzdata package and not by systemd, as I considered tzdata the 
> > "primary" owner of that file [1]. systemd-localed also handles that file 
> > currently via a Debian specific patch, which we'd like to get rid of.
> > The information in /etc/timezone is basically redundant as you can just 
> > as easily get the information from looking where the /etc/localtime 
> > symlink points at. It also avoids that /etc/localtime and /etc/timezone 
> > get out-of-sync.
> > /etc/timezone is mostly a Debianism afaiu.
> > 
> > Benjamin was so kind to implement this suggestion swiftly and uploaded 
> > this to unstable.
> > If this is now causing regressions in several packages, it's probably ok 
> > to revert this change for bookworm.
> > I did briefly skim over the codesearch list, and found a lot of false 
> > positives and fixes for this issue are usually pretty simple, but yes, 
> > I'd say this could be done early in the trixie release cycle as well 
> > with an accompanying MBF.
> > 
> > Benjamin, would it cause a lot of trouble to revert this change again or 
> > how would you prefer to proceed?
> 
> I agree that restoring /etc/timezone is the right solution for the
> bookworm. I'll prepare a tzdata upload for it.

Thanks, much appreciated! As there is no other action required from the
release team, I am closing the RT bug.

Cheers

> 
> > [1] https://salsa.debian.org/systemd-team/systemd/-/merge_requests/189
> > 
> > Am 16.02.23 um 13:30 schrieb Sebastian Ramacher:
> > > On 2023-02-16 12:34:29 +0100, Daniel Leidert wrote:
> > > > Am Donnerstag, dem 16.02.2023 um 08:41 +0100 schrieb Paul Gevers:
> > > > > Control: tags -1 moreinfo
> > > > > Control: severity -1 normal
> > > > > 
> > > > > Hi Daniel,
> > > > > 
> > > > > On 16-02-2023 01:11, Daniel Leidert wrote:
> > > > > > I ask you to
> > > > > > find a reasonable approach to deal with this for the Bookworm
> > > > > > release.
> > > > > 
> > > > > That's not how we normally work. Please come with concrete proposals and
> > > > > we can evaluate them.
> > > > 
> > > > Hi Paul. That is the release team's job. Your team should be on top of
> > > > that situation and control that. There is already a freeze in process.
> > > > You made that very clear. New transitions are not allowed. The date has
> > > > passed that re-introductions into Testing are not allowed anymore. And
> > > > people break other packages just like that? It is my expectation that
> > > > your team evaluates the situation together with the maintainer of
> > > > tzdata now, and then comes to a conclusion and a decision, how this
> > > > should be handled. codesearch.d.o proves that multiple packages use
> > > > code that relies on the existence of /etc/timezone. So, its removal
> > > > should have been handled in a coordinated way in the first place.
> > > > Either the maintainer of tzdata does a mass-bug filing, or this change
> > > > should be reverted.
> > > 
> > > I suggest you file a bug with the package that introduced any
> > > breakage first. I see no such bug against tzdata.
> > > 
> > > Cheers
> > > 
> > > > 
> > > > I have already spent two dozen unpaid hours of tracking down and
> > > > handling breakages introduced since February 7th(!!) by fellow DDs. I
> > > > spent multiple dozen hours of bug-fixing and uploading since the new
> > > > year started, to make sure users will get the software they expect in
> > > > Bookworm, also unpaid of course. And now I have to evaluate the impact
> > > > of the change in tzdata as well and create proposals? No. I'm not the
> > > > tzdata maintainer and I'm not a member of the release team. It is your
> > > > job to handle transitions.
> > > > 
> > > > <frustrated>
> > > > And I suggest that you finally do your job and make sure that people
> > > > stop uploading breaking changes, so the work for Bookworm gets less and
> > > > not constantly more.
> > > > </frustrated>
> > > > 
> > > > Daniel
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Benjamin Drung
> Debian & Ubuntu Developer
> 

-- 
Sebastian Ramacher